FIAT Turin lands rebounding ace Mbakwe

FIAT Turin bolstered its frontcourt by inking center Trevor Mbakwe, the club announced Thursday. Mbakwe (2.07 meters, 28 years old) arrives from Zenit St. Petersburg, where he averaged 4.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 12 7DAYS EuroCup games last season. He is the best per-minute rebounder in competition history, averaging 13.6 boards per 40 minutes. He started the 2016-17 season with Unicaja Malaga, but left the team to join Zenit before the start of the EuroCup. He joined Unicaja from Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, for whom he played in both the Turkish Airlines Euroleague and the Eurocup in the 2015-16 season. Mbakwe averaged 6.9 points, eight rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 10 Euroleague regular season games and led the regular season with 3.8 offensive rebounds per game. In the Eurocup, Mbakwe was worth 11 points, 10 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in five games. The year before, he ranked second in the Eurocup in rebounding with 8.4 per game for Brose Bamberg. Mbakwe played college basketball at the University of Minnesota and made his European debut in the 2013-14 season with Italian side Virtus Rome. Turin will be his fifth EuroCup team - Mbakew has accumulated 328 points and 328 rebounds in 45 career games with Rome, Bamberg, Maccabi and Zenit.